Internet Sites

Updated:  May 4, 2010 (Added "Deliverance It Has Come; World War II POW Diary" web site.)

Sites containing information concerning POWs of the Japanese:

• American Battle Monuments Commission  This link goes directly to the ABMC page used to search for a World War II POW by name.  Enter the last name first and DO NOT use any commas.  If you do not find the POW listed, it may be because the name is not listed as you typed it.  Try leaving out the middle name or initial, and if necessary, change the spelling to a similar name spelled slightly differently.  Names are in the database as they were recorded after World War II and they may not be 100% correct according to family records.  Click here - ABMC - to get the main American Battle Monuments Commission web site.
• American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society (formerly named "Descendants Group, an Auxiliary of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor")  This organization was created at the request of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor before that organization ceased to exist in June 2009.
• American Ex-Prisoners of War Organization  This site contains a wide variety of information that can be of assistance to former POWS and to their family members.  See the main page of information about membership and services available.
• Bataan Commemorative Research Project This excellent site by the Proviso East High School, IL gives information about the 192nd Tank Battalion including rosters of members of that unit.  See Maywood Bataan Day Organization below for another site with information about this unit.
• Bataan-Corregidor Memorial Foundation of New Mexico, Inc.  This site and the memorial (which was dedicated on April 7, 2002) are in honor of the men of the 200th and 515th CA (AA) Regiments.  The site includes a list of the men in those two regiments.
• Bataan Survivor  This web site tells the story of Alf R. Larson as compiled by Rick Peterson.  Alf was in the 27th Material Squadron, 20th Air Base Group.  He fought on Bataan, was in the Bataan Death March, was in Camp O'Donnell, Clark Field Detail, and Bilibid before going to Japan on the Noto Maru.  Then he was in Nagoya #6B (Nomachi) at Takaoka, Japan where he was liberated.
• Battling Bastards of Bataan  The home page of this site contains a photo of the Camp O'Donnell Memorial Monument in Capas, Tarlac, PI.
• Burma Thailand Railway This site includes information about the Burma Thailand Railway (also known as the Thailand-Burma Railway, the Burma Railway or the Death Railway).  Look in the left column and click on "Camp Lists" to get a complete list of POW camps along the 415-Km route of the railway.  See Thailand Burma Railway for another site on this subject.  Roger Mansell's "Center for Research, Allied POWs under the Japanese" (listed after this) also has a list of of the POW camps on the railway - see his Death Railway link.
• Center for Research, Allied POWs under the Japanese  Roger Mansell has information related to Japanese POW Camps throughout the Far East - including photos and links to other web pages.  To get a complete list of POW Camps, begin your visit to this site by clicking on the word "links" in the first sentence of the first box.  Then check out other parts of this site as your interests take you.
• China Marines - Fourth Marines Band  Follow the links close to the bottom on the main page for much more information.  This site complements the site below labeled "Fourth Marine Regiment."
• C.O.F.E.P.O.W. The initials stand for "Children (& families) of Far East Prisoners of War."  This site is an excellent resource for information concerning British, Australian, New Zealand and Dutch POWs of the Japanese.  Note also the "FEPOW Community" and "Researching FEPOW History" sites listed below.
• Corregidor  This site has much information about Corregidor and the related island forts involved in the defensive plan for Manila Bay.  Scroll down the "Units & Personnel" page to find links to rosters of most of the units of the Harbor Defenses.  Use the links in the horizontal bar close to the top of the page to navigate to other pages of this site.
• FEPOW Community  This British site, and the links it provides, will be of assistance to many people searching for information about a British, Australian, New Zealand or Netherlands POW of the Japanese.  Note also the "C.O.F.E.P.O.W." site listed above and the "Researching FEPOW History" site listed below.
• Fourth Marine Regiment  Use this site for information about the 4th Marines from before World War II, to Corregidor and through their time as POWs.
• Fukuoka #17  This excellent web site was started in 2002 as a Lewiston, Idaho school project.  It has been expanded into a large and very informative web site by Linda Dahl.  Linda was the school librarian, but has now moved on to City Librarian and continues to "grow" the web site as a labor of love.  The site includes a roster of POWs at Fukuoka #17 (Omuta).
• Index to Roper Research Materials  Anyone planning a trip to the National Archives should review Dick Roper's "List of Records in Numerical Order" and his "Diaries, Official Record & Press Releases" before leaving home.  You can make notes about the Box Numbers that contain information you want to see.  This should make your visit to the National Archives more efficient and more productive.
• Manila American Cemetery and Memorial  This site includes photos and brief video of the Manila American Cemetery as well as driving directions (in case you will be in the Manila area).  It also has links is to a cemetery booklet (".pdf" files, with or without photos).  It booklet is worth the download time - it includes a complete description of the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial including photos, drawings and the text of inscriptions.
• Mark Kelso's Oryoku Maru Web Site  This site is temporarily offline - a new link will be posted as soon as Mark has it ready.  Mark Kelso constructed this page as a memorial to his Grandfather, Lt. Walter A. Kelso, Jr.  It contains very detailed descriptions of the voyage that began at Manila on December 13, 1944 when 1,619 POWs were loaded into the cargo holds of the Oryoku Maru and ended at Moji, Kyushu, Japan on January 30, 1945 when about 400 survivors were unloaded from the holds of the Brazil Maru.  What happened during that series of voyages is the also subject of several books listed in the "Publications" page of this web site.
• Maywood Bataan Day Organization  This site contains information about their annual memorial service which will be on September 13th this year.  Also, it has information about the 192nd Tank Battalion.  Maywood, IL is the home of the Illinois National Guard tank company that became B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion when that battalion deployed to the Philippines.  See Bataan Commemorative Research Project above for another site containing information about this unit.
• Mukden Prisoner Of War Remembrance Society (MPOWRS)
  This relatively new site (as of June 2008) is devoted to POWs that were in camps in the Mukden area.  It has information about the new Mukden Allied Prisoners of War Camp Memorial Museum.  As of June 2008, this site is still being developed, so you may want to check back to see new additions.
• Museum of Japanese Merchant Ships  This Japanese language site contains photographs and paintings of a number of Japanese merchant ships that were sunk.  This index page will take you to lists of ships that were lost in a particular year.  In the center of each line you will see a two-digit number in the midst of the Japanese characters.  The line with "16" in it leads to a page with ships lost in 1941.  Likewise, "17" is for 1942, "18" is for 1943, "19" is for 1944 and "20" is for 1945.  The entries for "18" (1943) and "19" (1944) are subdivided.  "1-6" and "7-12" indicate the first and last six months of 1943.  Similarly, "19" (1944) is divided into quarters.  By knowing when a ship was lost, you can find the image.  For instance, the Oryoku Maru was attacked on December 14 and 15, 1944.  Click the line containing "19" and "10-12" on the index page to get a page with "thumbnail" photos of ships lost in Oct-Dec, 1944.  The photos have a caption with a four-digit number giving the month and day the ship was lost.  Click the caption with "1214" to get the painting of the Oryoku Maru.  The URL address will also display the ship's name but it may be misspelled in English.  If you want to read the Japanese wording, several free on-line translators can give a very rough translation.  I think it may be best to leave the translation to the experts.
• National Archives (NARA) Access to the Archival Database (AAD)  This link goes directly to the "Fielded Search" page for the World War II Prisoners of War Data File.  Click the following link for information that is designed to assist you in navigating this site.  It may help to make a copy of this information to use when you search on the NARA AAD site.  NARA Information
  In November 2006, NARA posted another database that is supplementary to their World War II Prisoners of War Data File.  This database was developed by a team of volunteers, each of whom is a descendant of a POW of the Japanese, working on behalf of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.  It provides information about the military unit of POWs prior to their surrender and gives additional information about POW camps when that information was available.  Click on Military Units to see the "Fielded Search" page for this database.  It is in the same format as the World War II Prisoners of War Data File, so the same instructions apply.
  To get the main AAD page so you can search a different file, click this link - http://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp.
• National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO   Use this site to obtain military records of a veteran or to obtain awards and decorations (medals).  Necessary instructions are on the main page of this web site.
• New Zealand Military History  This site may be of assistance to people searching for information about New Zealand POWs of the Japanese.
• North China Marines  This site has a lot of information for anyone interested in the "North China Marines."
• POW Research Network Japan  This site was set up to provide information about POW Camps in Japan and about individual POWs within those camps.  Before searching this site for information about an individual POW or about a specific camp, it is a good idea to read "About POW R.N.J." - click on the left item in the row of links near the top of the main page.  To search for a POW that died while in a POW camp in Japan, start on the main page and click on "Researches".  On the next page, click on "List of Deceased POWs" in the left column.  On the next page, click on "List by camp" in the left column.  Locate the correct camp and then click on "Open" in the right column.  The file is large and the printing is small, but there is a magnifying feature in the tool bar that will allow you to increase the size to make easy reading.
• POW/INTERNMENT CAMPS IN ASIA DURING WWII  This interesting site allows people to register names associated with various POW Camps and Internment Camps and contact others that are registered.
• POWs of the Japanese  Jim Erickson is constructing this site.  Already it has much valuable information about the Hellships, including rosters, and Jim will be adding more.  For those that do not know Jim Erickson, I will just say that he does outstanding research and you can rely on the information he posts.
• Researching FEPOW History  This site is located in the UK and has the aim of organizing bi-annual conferences to aid those who are researching the experiences of ex-Far Eastern prisoners of war or internees.  The links contained on this site will help persons looking for information concerning UK POWs of the Japanese.  Note also the "C.O.F.E.P.O.W." and "FEPOW Community" sites listed above.
• Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society  This site has information on POW Camps on Taiwan (Formosa).
• Thailand Burma Railway - see "Burma Thailand Railway" above.
• The Fall of the Philippines  This site contains the text of "The Fall of the Philippines" by Louis Morton.  It is part of a series of books produced by the U.S. Army Center of Military History.  After you enter this site, you can move to the portion of interest to you by clicking on a chapter or a section within a chapter.
• US-Japan Dialogue on POWs  This bilingual website is an effort to recognize the sacrifice of American POWs captured by the Japanese military during WWII. It also seeks to promote dialogue between people of the United States and Japan on related issues.   
• Wes Injerd's Web Site on POW Camps in Japan  This site has a vast amount of information about POW Camps in Japan plus links to other related information.  Wes recently (February 3, 2003) informed me that Robert S. LaForte has donated his entire collection of over 800 volumes and over 200 interviews of POWs of Japan to the University of North Texas Archives.  Wes has posted a link to a list of these volumes on page 8 of this web site.  You can go directly to the list by clicking on LaForte.  Wes just informed me (02/12/2003) that he has posted a chart showing the history of all POW Camps in Japan.  To see that site, click CHART.